Malia Obama, the daughter of Barack and Michelle Obama, turned 23 on Sunday. To mark the occasion, her parents took to social media to celebrate.
“Happy Fourth of July, everybody — and also, happy 23rd birthday to our dear Malia!” Michelle wrote on Instagram in the caption alongside a throwback photo of her and her oldest daughter. “It’s been a few years since we took this photo, but I know that she’ll always be my sweet little girl whose big hugs and big heart always lift up my day. Malia, we love you, and are so excited to see what this year will bring for you!”
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Barack also shared a throwback photo of himself and Malia, writing alongside it, “Happy Fourth of July, and Happy Birthday, Malia! It’s been such a joy to watch you begin to make your own way in the world with poise, grace, and humor. I miss the days when you thought the fireworks were for you.”
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Last month, Barack opened up about the activism of Malia and her younger sister Sasha.
“I always worry about their physical safety; that’s just the nature of fatherhood…But in terms of them having a good sense of what’s right and wrong, and their part and role to play in making the country better, I don’t worry about that,” he said, according Entertainment Tonight.
Barack went on to say that his daughters’ generation has no tolerance for the injustices that previous generations have put up with.
“What you and I might have tolerated as ‘That’s sort of how things are,’ their attitude is ‘Why? Let’s change it,'” he explained. “That’s among not just my daughters, but it’s among their white friends. There’s this sense of, ‘Of course, it’s not acceptable for a criminal justice system to be tainted by racism. Of course you can’t discriminate against somebody because their sexual orientation.'”
“There’s things they take for granted that I want them to take for granted,” Barack continued. “They’re not just interested in making noise, they’re interested in what works.”
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